Lynch, Jack ( John Jack Lynch) (1917–99), taoiseach 1966–73, 1977–9. Jack Lynch was born into a Cork family which had initially supported William
O'Brien before transferring its allegiance to
Fianna Fáil. There was no deep‐seated
IRA tradition within the family, but Lynch's brilliant career as a hurler and footballer provided an alternative form of popular legitimacy. This success, allied with his blossoming career as a barrister, propelled him into the Dáil in 1948, when he was immediately appointed as secretary to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. He served as parliamentary secretary to the taoiseach during the Fianna Fáil government of 1951–4; and when his party returned to power in 1957 he was minister for the Gaeltacht (March–June 1957) and then minister for education. When, in 1959, Sean
Lemass succeeded as taoiseach, he selected Lynch to inherit his own department, Industry and Commerce. Lemass again indicated his personal favour when he promoted Lynch to the Finance portfolio in 1965. It was at Lemass's insistence that (in November 1966) Lynch ran for the Fianna Fáil leadership, beating George Colley by 52 votes to 19.
Lynch's record as taoiseach and as party leader was ambiguous. He had a considerable measure of success at the polls: he led his party to victory in June 1969, and increased its popular vote at the election of February 1973 (even though a coalition of
Fine Gael and
Labour took sufficient seats to form a government). His economic track record was more problematic: he inherited problems (a slowing growth rate, rising unemployment, spiralling inflation) which had been brewing in the Lemass years. His handling of the fallout from the developing
Northern Ireland conflict betrayed a certain steeliness of character. The timing and extent of Lynch's knowledge of the
arms crisis remains unclear, but he eventually acted to dismiss the ministers who were implicated ( C. J. Haughey and Neil Blaney). In doing so, he helped to preserve the Irish state from embroilment in Northern Ireland.
Lynch was returned to power in 1977. However, victory was secured only on the strength of an election manifesto which promised increased state expenditure and simultaneous tax reductions. The result, particularly when combined with the oil crisis of 1979, was spiralling debt and unemployment. Lynch's political strength began to ebb, and when Fianna Fáil lost two by‐elections in the taoiseach's home territory of Cork his enemies turned the screw. In 1977 Lynch had brought Haughey back into government; and it was Haughey who in December 1979, after two years of intrigue, succeeded as taoiseach.
Lynch is generally regarded as a man of considerable personal integrity and popularity. He was a reluctant leader, who brought to his office no fiery political vision. The zenith of his statesmanship—the arms crisis—simultaneously underlined his strengths and weaknesses: he had no roots in the republican traditions of Fianna Fáil, and this meant that, while he was sometimes out of touch, he could distance himself from hardline colleagues. Despite some re‐evaluation at the time of his death, it seems likely that Lynch will continue to be overshadowed by his more gifted and fortunate patron, Lemass, and by his more ruthless and unscrupulous successor, Haughey.
Bibliography
Collins, Stephen , The Power Game: Fianna Fáil Since Lemass (2000)
Alvin Jackson
